Health care providers dedicate years to rigorous education and training to optimize medical care, aiming to heal and treat illness. However, historically, there has been a significant gap in training regarding the transition from a treatment-focused approach to focusing on providing comfort in the face of serious illness and death. This leaves health care professionals unprepared to navigate the complexities of end-of-life care. Despite their good intentions, health are providers lack the courage to face the reality of serious illness and accept the limits of medicine. Every life inevitably concludes, despite the best efforts made. Sometimes medical providers persist in treatments that offer no or limited benefit, hoping to save a patient they know cannot be saved or cured. I recall witnessing an oncologist who persisted with chemotherapy despite clear signs of the patient’s imminent death and disease resistance. Fortunately, the palliative care team intervened, navigating the situation and ensuring the patient’s comfort as much as possible. This example highlights the challenge health care professionals face in balancing hope with reality and the importance of incorporating palliative care within a medical team.
Health care is not only composed of treatment aimed at curing a disease but is also composed of enhancing the quality of life at the end of life. Palliative care, a specialized field in medicine, focuses on providing comprehensive medical support to ensure a patient experiences the best possible comfort and emotional well-being during their final stages. This is equally, if not more, important than standard curative medical treatments. The manner in which someone dies is as vital as the way they have lived. Due to this, health care providers should offer and integrate palliative care services early in the care of patients with life-threatening and serious diseases. The earlier palliative care becomes a part of the patient’s medical timeline, the more effectively their needs and wishes are addressed.
As a physician assistant, I became familiar with palliative care and its impact on patients when I began working in oncology. Through my years in oncology, I have learned to value and appreciate the end-of-life and the specialized care it entails. Palliative care services serve as a guide to facilitate open discussions between patients, their families, and health care providers about hopes, wishes, and treatment preferences. These conversations become crucial when illness takes a turn for the worse, empowering families to make informed decisions on behalf of the patient. By expressing their desires early on, patients find solace in knowing their wishes are understood and will be honored.
Palliative care services also aid patients in articulating desires they wish to fulfill before death. Here, health care providers who demonstrate courage, compassion, and face reality hold great value. By courageously acknowledging the reality of a patient’s impending death instead of offering false hope, they can inform patients of the truth and subsequently help fulfill their final wishes. Furthermore, palliative care ensures that patients experience minimal pain and discomfort during the active dying process. Courage is paramount in health care, especially in confronting end-of-life realities. By embracing this courage, medical providers can enhance their ability to provide effective and wholesome care for patients during their final moments.
Palliative care services offer invaluable benefits in the holistic care of patients. I hope that this discussion will result in a greater utilization of palliative care among medical professionals.
Emina Begovic is a physician assistant.
